Synopses & Reviews
A chronicle of the fascinating early years of Horatio Nelson and Emma Lyon. Both determined to rise from obscurity, they set about making their ways through the world with corresponding recklessness and precocious ambition. Nelson enters the Royal Navy at the age of twelve and is made post captain at the age of twenty. Emma, luscious but penniless, cannily confronts her limited prospects to rise through the social ranks from teenaged bawd to noblemen's courtesan to celebrated artist's model. Rich in historical detail, this novel offers authentic sea action and a rare peek into London's demimonde, where the lives of a beautiful courtesan and Britain's greatest naval hero collide.
Review
"A compelling read and a probing exposition of the workings of the British navy in the late 18th century." —Edward Cline, author, The Sparrowhawk series
Review
"Donachie has a masterful way of creating atmosphere and character . . . stunning impact." —Kent Messenger
Synopsis
On a Making Tide is the first volume of a dual biographical epic of England's greatest hero and his legendary mistress. In 1771 a twelve-year-old Horatio Nelson arrives at the Royal Navy dockyard at Chatham to join his first ship, the 64-gun Raisonable, as a midshipman. Moored beside her is the ship that will one day usher Nelson into the annals of naval history: the Victory. Little Emma Hamilton, meanwhile, is taken by her mother to her employers' house, where she is the subject of a nefarious trade: her mother's "services" as a kept mistress in London in return for Emma's education. Pretty, high-spirited, and determined to make something of herself, Emma will reject the strictures of life as a domestic servant and will opt to live in a bawdy house, before she meets the man who will change her life and the course of European history.
Synopsis
This book is the first volume of an epic dual autobiographical novels of England's greatest hero and his legendary mistress.
About the Author
David Donachie is an avowed lover of naval fiction with a stroke of mischief, and he has lately published a multivolume biographical novel about Lord Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton. Writing as Tom Connery, he is the author of the popular Markham of the Marines novels. A Scot by birth, he lives in Deal on the Channel coast of England.